Older age may be a time when a person seeks, perhaps more than ever, to earnestly come to grips with the realities of life and existence.

It can be a time when four vital reminders about life deeply take root:

(1) Cherishing the preciousness of a human life.

(2) Recognizing the reality of impermanence and death.

(3) Understanding the unfailing law of cause and effect (karma).

(4) Accepting the inherent dissatisfaction and suffering in life.

The above four reminders may then prompt four urgent actions:

(5) Having equal love for all and not swayed by attachment or aversion.

(6) Preparing oneself for peaceful dying and death.

(7) Practicing responsible stewardship in all areas of life.

(8) Embarking earnestly on a spiritual path.

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These areas will be examined in greater detail on this website.

When these four reminders and four actions are internalized, then a more peaceful and confident dying can follow.

Alexander Peck (February 7, 2020)

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From Here to Enlightenment: Four Websites

This website forms one out of a series of four websites with overall themes in a sequence as follows:

Path: http://www.lamrimpath.org/  This website presents the stages of the Buddhist path to enlightenment or awakening, based on the lamrim genre.

The lamrim genre divides beings according to three levels of spiritual motivation in relation to the teachings on the Path:

(1) Those of lesser motivation, who aim to achieve rebirth in the higher states within samsara, as human beings or as gods.

(2) Those of a middle motivation, who seek liberation from samsara for themselves alone.

(3) Those of greater motivation, who are motivated by the desire to lead all beings to perfect buddhahood.

Practice: http://ngondro-practices.org/  This website presents an explanation of the preliminary practices in Tibetan Buddhism. There are two parts:

(1) The general foundation (preliminary) practices

(2) The special foundation (preliminary) practices

Preparation: https://dying-and-death-reflections.com/  This website features reflections, and other content, in the context of:

(1) Growing older

(2) Nearing the end of life

(3) Dying and death

Its purpose is to serve people in preparing for their own inevitable parting from life.

Parting: http://the-six-bardos.org/  This website describes the six bardos of Tibetan Buddhism to provide a guide for the present life, as well as a preparation for the hereafter:

(1) The natural bardo of the present life

(2) The bardo of dreaming

(3) The bardo of meditation

(4) The painful bardo of dying

(5) The luminous bardo of ultimate reality

(6) The karmic bardo of becoming

Path/Practice/Preparation/Parting Correlated with View/Meditation/Action

Note: If any of the material presented in the section “Preparation” (in the table below) does not resonate, then leave it for now. One does not need to master every practice or instruction to prepare for death. The main task is to find a practice (or practices) that you connect with and to develop familiarity with that.

Overall Theme	Perspective
The overall themes of the four websites described above	Based on traditional framework of view, meditation, and action
Path (Based on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation) (1) The Primary Cause: Buddha-Nature (2) The Working Basis: The Precious Human Life (3) The Contributory Cause: The Spiritual Master (4) The Method: Topics (impermanence, the suffering of samsara, karma and its result, loving-kindness and compassion, refuge and precepts, cultivation of bodhicitta, the six paramitas, etc.) (5) The Result: Perfect Buddhahood (6) The Activities: Activities of the Buddha Source: Gampopa. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation	View
Practice (Ngondro) (1) Precious human existence (2) Death and impermanence (3) The law of karma (4) The shortcomings of samsara – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – (1) Taking Refuge and generating bodhichitta (2) The meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva (3) Mandala offering (4) Guru yoga	Meditation
Preparation (Practices) (1) Mindfulness, awareness (2) Four reminders practice (3) Pure Land practice (4) Sudden death preparation (5) Power of positive karma (6) Daily meditation on death (7) Understanding the dying process (8) Phowa: transference of consciousness (9) Living a good life (10) Learning to let go (11) Shamatha (calm abiding) meditation (12) Vipashyana (insight) meditation (13) Tonglen (“sending and taking”) meditation (14) Reverse meditations (15) Recognizing the bardos as danger/opportunity (16) Devotion (17) Understanding the bardos and the trikaya (18) Realizing how mind leads all things (19) “Insurance” Dharma (20) Reflecting on the six bardo root verses Parting (Bardos) (1) The natural bardo of the present life (2) The bardo of dreaming (3) The bardo of meditation (4) The painful bardo of dying (5) The luminous bardo of ultimate reality (6) The karmic bardo of becoming	Action

The four overall themes of the four websites listed above are loosely matched with the traditional framework of view, meditation, and action.

Alternatively, the overall themes of the four websites described above may be loosely matched with another traditional framework — that of study, contemplation, meditation.

Overall Theme	Perspective
The overall themes of the four websites described above	Based on the traditional framework of the study, contemplation, and meditation
Path	Study
Preparation Parting	Contemplation
Practice (Ngondro)	Meditation

The four overall themes of the four websites listed above are loosely matched with the traditional framework of study, contemplation, and meditation.

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For a PDF copy of the text on the four reminders and four actions, click here. (This is an earlier version.)